Affordances of Digitally Based Assessment for Students With Differing Abilities

• In Event: Discussion and Demonstration of the Uses and Affordances of NAEP Digitally Based Assessments

Abstract

Digitally based assessments have the ability to provide a more equitable experience in high and low stakes testing for students with differing abilities in both K-12 and post-secondary schooling. Turning paper and pencil tests into digital assessments allows students to use the various assistive technologies that support their learning needs to be able to understand and interact with the assessments in the same way they would any other digital educational content used in the classroom.

Accessibility, universal design and usability are phrases that we often use interchangeably, yet they are each an important step in the ongoing cycle of design, development, and testing of digital content. Digitally based assessments need to embrace this same cycle, in order to provide an equitable experience for our test takers. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) give us the guidance on how to present digital content to make it perceivable, understandable, operable and robust, and importantly, ensure that it will be compatible with the assistive technologies used by students with disabilities. WCAG conformance is our guide, but we must also test this content to ensure that it goes beyond checklist-style accessibility conformance and is truly useable, across devices, browsers, and the range of different assistive technology tools as well as low tech tools like keyboard navigation. Critical in the analysis is to ensure the implementation of accessibility does not increase the complexity of the interface for the test taker.

Designing a DBA with accessibility, usability, and universal design in mind attempts to make the assessment available to the widest test taker population possible, those with and without disabilities. The creation process also needs to include users testing that includes test takers with and without disabilities. Putting the content in the hands of students that use assistive technology can show the research and design team the specific needs of students with disabilities and lead to the development of solution that can be optimized for their needs. Addressing accessibility, usability, and universal design can effectively lead to a more accessible, usable, and inclusive assessment for everyone.

Author

• Kris Anne Kinney, Educational Testing Service